Sunday, November 23, 2008

Fraternities Going Dry

There will be a little less partying next year in Oxford, where more than a dozen Miami University fraternities have decided to ban alcohol inside their houses.“There's going to be no alcohol in common areas, no parties or anything like that,” said Nick Nolting, president of Phi Kappa Psi.Sixteen of the university’s 26 fraternities have pledged to go dry or damp, which would permit alcohol only inside private bedrooms.

By doing so, the chapters would be exempt from a new rule that requires second-year students to live on campus.“We need sophomores to live in the house,” Nolting said. “That's where a lot of our revenue comes from.”Those who’ll live next year in the house said the ban would take some fun out of college life and could diminish the appeal of fraternities.

“It'll change Greek life a lot,” said sophomore Clayton Costello, of Phi Kappa Psi. “I think it'll be harder to get kids to come to fraternities now at Miami.”

The Pikes decided to keep alcohol in their house, but sophomores like Costello and Coin Pulte would have to live on campus instead of the fraternity house.

“People want to go and be able to party at the house, because the house is the central part of a Greek organization,” Pulte said.

At least one fraternity has already dumped beer, and its members said they don’t regret their decision.